


Married With Benefits

by Meduseld



Series: Fake Married for the Benefits [1]
Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, M/M, Marriage of Convenience, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 06:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11248002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meduseld/pseuds/Meduseld
Summary: Ben and Caleb have dinner at the White House, while being spouses.





	Married With Benefits

“And _that’s_ how we got invited back to his dacha. Against foreign policy to accept of course” the First Lady says and the whole table laughs.

She’s a special woman, and Caleb can’t really believe he’d been dreading this dinner, even if he feels a little like a monkey someone put in a suit. A well-tailored one.

Still, even if it had been the absolute horror show of simpering capitol kiss-asses he’d imagined, he would have come with a goddamn smile.

Ben needs him here. And if he can’t do that for him, for the man who took him into his home and helped him get his shit somewhat together and then even stooped to marrying him just so he could get actual coverage for Lucas, the only family he has left, Caleb needs his ass kicked.

Because he _had_ done all that even when that meant that his colleagues would hear about it because they’re literally spies and they must be gossiping about just why a guy like Ben, star on the rise, would marry an ex-military fuck-up who doesn’t even have his life together enough to get arthritis meds for the man who raised him.

So Caleb’s determined to not let him down.

Which means he’s ready when the First Lady turn to Ben and asks “I quite like your young man, dear. How long have you been together?”

It’s kind of incredible, watching a man who’s stared down terrorists and dictators and lied to the freaking Commander in Chief when it served the greater good, turn a very delicate shade of pink and stumble through the answer.

It’s what they’ve agreed on, two parts truth to one part lie, they’ve been friends forever and Caleb’s last deployment made them realize they couldn’t live without each other.

They got married when he got home.

She presses him, and he can’t fault her.

Teasing Ben is _fun_.

And rare.

But Caleb’s job is to save his husband (he’s so fucked. That word gives him such a thrill) so he steps up.

“Y'see the things is, I knew I was in love with him before that. When I was too young to really…get that”

Her eyes are on him now and there’s no way he can get away with lying.

Thank God the story is true.

“We would have been, I dunno, ten or so. And we were hiking, me and Ben and Abe. I fell. Not too bad, but enough that I twisted my ankle and landed where they couldn’t reach me. Couldn’t get back on my own either. And Ben…”

He has to stop.

Have a quick sip of water.

No one’s brought this story up since high school, but it’s never far from his mind

“Ben didn’t panic. He told Abe to get help, told him what to say so they’d find us. And he stayed. Stayed with me the whole time.”

He’d talked too, until his voice was raspy, and Caleb had known that he would follow Ben anywhere.

That no one else could ever make him feel that safe, even when he was lying back on damp earth with a swollen ankle.

He doesn’t know what to say now, how to finish it, but she does “That’s something you don’t find every day”.

He nods, grateful.

Ben’s staring.

“I didn’t think you remembered that” he says, and Caleb half smiles, half shrugs.

Ben’s hand twitches on the table.

He wants to take Caleb’s hand.

He wants to so much he has to press his palm down flat to keep from reaching over.

Of course he’d panicked.

But it was Caleb, and he could never, ever leave him behind. Never deny him anything.

Not even his hand.

Which means that he has to remember: Caleb only married him out of necessity.

He’s got divorce papers prepped, ready to go, to make it as painless as possible when the time comes.

He’s already guilty enough for enjoying every glance he gets of his wedding ring. He can’t be so terrible as to ask anything of Caleb.

He’s already getting so much more than he’s ever given: the boy he’s loved all his life and who loves him back, just not in the way he wants.

A warm house to come home to, someone to talk to, his breathing in the night.

At least they’ll still be friends, after.

Caleb is watching him, and he shakes his head.

“Just thinking.”

Caleb presses his lips together, trapping some prime Brewster humor that won’t match the delicate porcelain dishes.

His heart twinges, and he reaches over anyway.

Caleb’s fingers close on his and they smile.

Across from them, Martha Washington is so intensely reminded of the early days of her marriage, of that look on her own husband, that she breaks protocol to leave the table to find him.    


End file.
